Sakura at Dawn
by Charia
Summary: Captured by the Akatsuki, Sakura disguises herself as a boy and joins for only one reason: To bring Sasuke back herself. During her time with Akatsuki, she learns that each one of them are somewhat human after all... "I don't care what happens to me." "You should." Sakurax?
1. Beginner's Luck

**Beginner's Luck  
**

Disclaimer: Characters are not mine. They belong to K. Masashi. The lucky bastard...

* * *

Haruno Sakura was not the person she thought she would grow up to be. When she was younger, she believed she would become the head of the hospital after Tsunade retired.

She believed she'd spend the rest of her life in Konoha with her friends,and maybe even get into the ANBU.

But no, here she was, constantly changing locations to seek information on a certain Uchiha's whereabouts.

She didn't want to leave her beloved Konoha, but she had made a vow, a resolve to find Sasuke by herself.

Yes.

She will be the one to bring _Sasuke_ back. Not anyone else.

She should have thought of this sooner. She should have left sooner. She should have left to with him two and a half years ago.

So that no one else would get hurt, especially our knuckle-headed ninja, Naruto.

_Naruto._ She thought.

_I have become a person who caused you pain and suffering out of selfishness. I'm not worthy to be near such a happy person nor live a happy life because of what I've done to you. I must find Sasuke instead of you, then... hopefully you'll forgive me._

Sakura sighed, and suddenly felt intense pain on her stomach, reminding her that it was still there. "Damn sound ninja caught me off guard," she said grasping her stomach as she grit her teeth in pain. Some sound ninja had attacked her while she was asleep not too long ago. Her lack of sleep now had a hold on her whenever she did sleep. She would be out of it, and that was extremely bad. Not too mention she was roaming around in hostile territory.

"Dammit. I would've killed them in no time if I had paid more attention to my surroundings," she cursed herself once again, "That was the 3rd attack in the last 4 months."

Sakura Haruno became a missing-nin exactly 8 months ago. Determined to re-pay her debt with Naruto by delivering Sasuke back herself. It was the least she could do.

The exhausted kunoichi had to spot a place to rest her currently injured body, and hopefully get some healing done as well.

After about half an hour or so, Sakura completed her search for a place.

...

_This is perfect. Not to crowded, seems peaceful, it totally fits my needs. _

She thought, smiling.

The location was a small waterfall, and luckily this nearly-fresh water was suitable for baths, and washing her clothes and wounds.

Under her black t-shirt, she had wrapped her flat stomach with the cloth she ripped off her t-shirt sleeve to keep the wound from her recent fight clean.

As expected from a medical ninja who wouldn't take the risk of getting an infection.

Her usual outfit had become filthy, and was torn apart not too long ago. So she made use of her money, and bought the set of clothes she currently wore.

A black t-shirt and gray pants.

She figured that she would soon ruin her new clothes so she only bought ones that felt comfortable, and wasn't too flashy to attract unwanted attention.

Plus they were cheap and were on the for sale rack.

Sakura looked down into the running water, and saw her reflection. She didn't care about her looks, she didn't care what people think about her.

She didn't care if she looked like a boy. Actually she would look like one if she didn't have that pink hair of hers, that barely touched her shoulders.

She figured that she should dye her hair whenever she got the chance. Her odd hair color attracted unwanted attention as usual. She could careless if she didn't look good, decent or whatever.

All she cared right now was her promise, her promise to Naruto before she left.

* * *

_Sakura swiftly jumped from roof to roof, making her way to the "kitsune's den." It was the middle of the night when Sakura quietly opened Naruto's window and sneaked through._

_The blonde who wore his usual pair of ramen pajamas was fully sleeping and dreaming, no doubt. Snoring and snoring with the blanket on his feet, and of course he was sleeping in an odd position._

_Her face hidden within the darkness, she smiled sadly and barely whispered the words._

_"I swear I'll bring Sasuke back with my own hands... and Naruto... thank you... for everything."_

_Then she slowly held the blanket, and gently placed it over the blonde's body. He slowly shifted to a more comfortable position, then continued to snore loudly. _

_Sakura was ready to leave. She quickly jumped out the window making a quiet "Swoosh" sound, disappearing into the moonlit night. _

_A minute later she found herself at the Konoha gate, and stopped between the doors. No one occupied the doors at this time, and she knew that. _

_There was no one to stop her from leaving. _

_It was a good thing too. She would have stayed if someone had forbid her not to leave. Unlike Sasuke..._

_She looked back with sad eyes, and said her last goodbye to her home and everyone in it. Then, with balled-up gloved fists she turned her back to the gate. _

_The bright light of the full moon made the tears seem like small stars that floated as she made that slow turn. _

_"I will bring Sasuke back..." She said, her eyes filled with stong, deep determination as she begun to walk, and slowly disappear into the darkness of the black shadowed forest. _

_"I swear it..." _

* * *

During that time Uzumaki Naruto dreamed. He dreamed of a place surrounded by one color.

_Black_.

And a cold chill continued to sweep over his skin.

Here, Naruto was standing in this darkness, and opened his eyes as if he was just waking up. He instantly realized that something was terribly wrong.

Naruto frantically looked around his surroundings and saw nothing, but unending darkness. He was sweating because of one thing.

_Fear_.

He called out his teammates names.

"Sasuke!"

No response.

"Sakura!"

Again nothing, but silence.

The feeling of being alone approached him once again. Naruto was very familiar with this feeling. It started to overwhelm him as it had when he was a child. Covering him from head to toe. He bit his lip, and his body shivered from the cold and scared.

But then something or someone appeared behind him with white light shining down on the back of the person whom Naruto knew very well.

Time seemed to slow as Naruto hesitantly turned to look over his shoulder. His cerulean eyes clearly showed multiple emotions.

_Hope. Determination. Relief. Shock. Fear._

Naruto's pupils twitched within his wide eyes. His lips began to make movement and his voice said the once forbidden name.

_"Sasuke."_

Naruto continued to shiver from not only the cold chill in the air, but also from the sight of his lost teammate and once... best friend.

He hesitated reached out his hand to Sasuke, but ended up doing so.

The raven-haired boy turned his head, looking directly at Naruto. Half of the curse mark was stretched across his face and these was no sight of the leaf headband. He was wearing the familiar blue high-collared shirt and white shorts with armbands.

The edge of his mouth twitched as if he was smirking in an devilish manner. Eyes showed the insane hatred in him. One eye was yellow. The other was a familiar bright emerald green.

That was all Sasuke did before he turned away to step into the unending darkness around them.

Naruto re-watched the familiar scene as the darkness began to swallow his best friend inch by inch.

Then he fell to his knees.

And cried.

Because he knew that Sakura had left as well.

* * *

The people in the small town bustled about as they normally did, unaffected by the brown-haired ninja currently walking in their streets. Her chocolate colored hair was only an inch down her neck now. Really short. She went to a local hair salon, and had her hair dyed this color. She liked it since it was different than her soft pink hair. She also bought some bottles of dye to keep her new hair color. She placed them into her small backpack, and easily slung it over her shoulder.

As she headed out of this town, she found herself being stared deeply by a few men who were looking for some trouble.

_Typical._

Their greedy smiles normally wouldn't cause her to shiver, but in the condition she was in. It was a different story.

Sakura thought about her condition as she ignored them.

_This isn't good. I can't do consecutive fights in this state. I'll probably pass out before I get rid off them. _

She looked sideways at the men for a second before looking down the path before her.

_Ok then, let's see if they can catch me._

With that she made her choice, and ran away from the town as quickly as she could. The men nodded, decided to go with their own plan and follow her.

_And their ninjas? That's just great. Real great. _

She groaned heavily as she ran faster. _  
_

There she was fleeing from a impossible fight against five male ninjas. Sakura cursed at her bad luck, and conducted a quick plan.

_Well, I've got a head start so I'll do the simple hide, then ambush. Hope this works. They look like rookie ninjas anyway. _

She went along with her plan, and remembered the huge boulder near the waterfall that she rested at just recently.

Sakura shortly reached the mentioned place, and swiftly hid. Her back against the boulder.

Her breathing needed some catching up. She breathed in and out slowly as she could so that she wouldn't make a hint of a sound.

She wouldn't dare to peek, fearing that they would see her. She didn't want to deal with anything right now so she wished they would pass by and leave her alone.

That's all she wanted right now.

All she wanted.

If she was lucky, she could be free from any interruptions tonight.

But apparently luck wasn't on her side.

* * *

She took the risk of breathing and breathed carefully. Small packages of air traveled through her lungs. They ached no more.

Sakura twitched, and turned her head to listen. Then, she smiled an all-knowing smile.

She heard it.

She heard them.

A nearly slient crack from a twig that ringed through her eardrums. The small sound lasted for only a second yet Sakura already knew where they are.

Only a few yards off was where the sound arrived from. The sun had fallen before the chase, and night had long since fell upon the earth. Darkness reigned upon them.

Unfortunately, it prevented her from seeing her surroundings, but she was glad she had her hearing to back her up.

_They must be hidden within the trees. Hehe those lessons with Tsunade worked after all._

She smirked, unaware that she was being naive.

Minutes passed by. No one made a move.

_I hope..._

_ I hope they don't find me and walk away. That nothing would happen. So I could go back to my journey, my promise with Naruto._

She continued to hope and at last sounds of the men jumping from limb to limb in the opposite direction.

Bright emerald eyes grew wide in relief. A quiet sigh of relief left her lips_, _closing her eyes and opening them._  
_

Only to see a kunai with a lit paper bomb thrown at her. Green eyes grew wide in surprise as the space between the sharp tip of the blade and her face grew shorter within a second.

The image of bright, yellow-orange sparks of the lit paper bomb reflected in Sakura's terrified eyes.

**BBBBOOOOOOOMMMMM! :D**

Bits of rubble and rock flew everywhere from the explosion. A cloud of smoke arose, and someone jumped out of the smoke.

She held her body low to the ground like a cat and held her head up to scan her surroundings with one look. A pleasant smirk on her lips.

Then, Sakura watched each of the five men whom had chased her down swoop from various tree limbs. The smirk was still present as Sakura stood.

The moon then revealed itself amongst the clouds. It was full and the light casted six shadows. Five surrounded Sakura and hers.

"Well well well look what we have here." One of the ninja said as he grinned and stepped closer to her.

"We finally stand face to face. Why don't you hang with us, babe?" Another asked with a devious smile.

The rest laughed and stepped forward too.

Sakura sighed and reached for her back pocket of her pants. She pulled the same red ribbon that Ino gave her a long time ago when they were kids.

Using the ribbon, she tied her short brown hair into a insanely small ponytail. This has always been a habit of hers ever since she left. Her hair proved to be of nuisance when she fought.

She also looked more manly with her hair up too. Not that she cared. She had grown more mature now, and realized that being a ninja was her 1st priority.

Her looks were at the bottom of the long list. The facial expression she had now was serious and determined. You could mistake her for a boy because she had her hair tied.

It was like she transformed into a boy in just seconds. Her clothes she wore didn't help her look feminine either. The black t-shirt and gray pants she wore replaced her old clothing.

She didn't want to attract attention to herself yet unfortunately she still did. Even with the new hair color.

Sakura stood in fighting position with the same expression on her face. She said nothing to the ninjas.

One of them smirked, "Tch so our little flower doesn't want to go without a fight."

Another one said, "Fine then we'll make this quick, hehe."

_Them bastards! They'll regret underestimating me! I'll show 'em!_

Time passed both of them as they waited for the first move. Then she grew impatient. She hated to wait. Not when she had other important things to do.

_Ugh I don't have time for this! Fine, if they don't make the first move, then I will! CHAAAAAAAAA!_

Sakura circulated her chakra into her fist and with a swift movement she gave a massive punch unto the poor ground.

The impact had created a small crater under her and huge pieces of rock flew into the air around Sakura.

The ninjas had jumped back and hid themselves among the trees before coming back with new clothing.

The sound village outfit and headband was noticeable to Sakura.

_So they were disguised huh._

"Tch," she bit her lip in frustration, when the ninjas all jumped at once, heading straight toward the girl with balled up fists.

_Five against one isn't fair. But oh well, I guess.  
_

Then the frenzy between Sakura and five sound ninjas began.

* * *

youtube .com/watch?v=IbNyne84IfA

I have made a video version of the 1st chapter of Sakura At Dawn which is I Search For You. Please check it out! :D

Its on youtube and its the unedited version, but has music to set the mood.


	2. Found by Chance

**Found By Chance  
**

* * *

It seemed like the same ninja kept on coming back to attack. One after the other. The same process repeated over and over again.

Sakura would sense them coming before they strike, and kick them or punch them back out of this small circle.

Of course she faced some of their attacks here and there. They did hurt a little more than expected because of the wounds she already had.

But the pain didn't ruin her concentration instead she kept repeating that same process of kicking and punching over and over.

It seemed like with her hair tied up, she gained some sort of male-like personality. At that moment she became headstrong and never showed a sign of the girly side of her.

Sakura gave up her girly side long before when she left the village.

The ninjas continued to attack one after the other and sometimes they would try to attack at once.

She always hated when she was out-numbered which is why she tried to avoid getting in fights like these since never figured out a way to over-come her opponents whenever she was out-numbered.

Naruto would've kicked these guys' asses by now if he was here. Them bastards don't give up do they! I gotta think of a way to get em.

Sakura bit her lip as she snapped. She blindly punched the ground creating the same small craters whenever she saw a glimpse of one of the ninjas.

Her screams kept on warning her attackers therefore they easily dodged the huge bits of rock and rumble flown at them.

After continuous punches, Sakura finally stopped her sudden rampage when a sudden pain struck her. It came from her stomach, she had reopened the wound.

Then she realized she had an ounce of chakra left. She needed to finish this quickly. Her plan was set in motion.

One by one she kicked each enemy into a nearby crater, causing them to fall in. Then jumped backwards unto the huge cliff, with her back against the full moon she towered over the men.

Smirking as she watched them stagger to get up within the craters. She wouldn't let them escape. She was nice enough to build their graves just for them.

Those ninjas must be pleased. Soon they're going to be drowned rats.

Sakura finally raised her fist, which was currently surrounded by blue swirls of chakra, she yelled as she punched the mountainous ground below her with her greatest effort.

Bits and pieces of dirt and rock and something else flew out this time and it had already descended on the trapped men. Water overflowed every crater Sakura had made.

During the brawl, Sakura had purposely hit the ground below her to create the huge craters for the water to fill up in.

After she jumped off the remainder of the cliff and landed on nearby tree branch, she gladly watched the drowning rats. "Water water everywhere, bitch." She spit in the water.

A few minutes later when the water became absorbed by the dirt and continuous pebbles of rock, Sakura finally decided to see if her plan had worked and jumped down from the branch.

Her feet landed with a small splash and every footstep she took made a small splash noise. Sakura walked toward the nearest crater and looked inside expecting to see a dead body.

But when she looked, there was one. Shocked by this, her mind was set in motion. She reacted quickly by jumping back to dodge an attack of kunai with a explosive tag tied to the end.

She bit her lip as she landed with her feet and one hand in front of her. Her composure wasn't too good.

She was slouching a bit which showed a sign of weakness, something that she didn't want to show at all.

Her breathing started to have a faster pace and she clutched her stomach once more. The wound had reopened.

One ninja saw the blood spreading across her shirt where her wound was and grinned at the sight, "Tch you think you'd kill us that easily!"

"Damn." Sakura mindly cursed. Stubborn as she is, she stepped forward indicating that she wasn't done yet.

Yet her body didn't agree. After she stepped forward, her vision blurred and her mind went blank. Her body started to shut down. Sakura, her hand clutching her head, she staggered for a bit trying to stand up.

Then it started to shut down completely. Her eyes slowly closed as her body tilted backwards, falling.

She had no chakra left.

A Questionable Rescue

Sakura felt herself fall.

No. Not now. Not just yet. Please I want to fight. I need to fight. I need to get up and FIGHT!

Then hands stretched out behind her. The warm hands started to touch Sakura's falling shoulders. They gripped her shoulders lightly and pushed forward, causing Sakura to regain her balance and stand once again on her two feet.

With her eyes popped open, Sakura quickly realized she was being lifted up by someone. But who?

She hesitantly turned her head to see who kept her from falling. She wanted to thank the person. "Ah, thank y-" She let her words trail off when she saw the Akatsuki symbol.

No way... She thought and slowly looked up to see a man with long blonde hair who looked like a woman. Part of his hair covered one of his eyes. But she could tell he was a man. There was no sign of breasts on him.

She searched for her words but they got caught in her throat. She'd never expect an Akatsuki member to help her. Unless... he wasn't.

Sakura felt ashamed that she'd think that an AKATSUKI member would help her. There was no way they would. Just no way.

In other words, she didn't trust them. She came to a conclusion that they must've sent the ninjas after her.

All this time Akatsuki was probably watching in the side lines, enjoying the fight between a girl and 5 men. The sick bastards.

Sakura didn't like the Akatsuki. They were always up to no good. Because of them, Sasuke- Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt her clothing become wet on her shoulders.

The sudden wetness made her shudder and she instantly turned to punch the blonde in the face but missed when he jumped backwards, landing next to his partner who was jumping up and down. "Senpai!" He cried.

Sakura flipped backwards then realized she was closer to the 5 men and turned around to where she could look after both sides. As usual, she didn't like being out numbered and this just made it worse.

Gasping as she saw the blonde's partner, she knew how the Akatsuki worked in groups of two so this was no surprise to her. But what made her gasp was the new face...er mask that she'd never seen before.

Sakura took a good look at him. The man face was covered with an orange mask with an eye holeyuhhh and he had short, spiky black hair.

How mysterious.

She then realized that she got some of her chakra back. It was enough for her to stand but if she got hit it, it would be lights out for her. But how did she regain chakra?

Did that blonde guy transfer some of his chakra to her? No it couldn't be. They're the enemy!

All this didn't make sense to her. She had enough. She turned to face the two Akatsuki members, "Why are you here! What do you want with me!" She shouted in anger.

The blonde stepped forward and replied calmly, "We came to help you, un."

With eyes grown wide, she stood there surprised at his response. "...Help me...?"

She didn't know how to react. This was the last thing she'd hear from an Akatsuki member.

As she stood there dumbfounded, she didn't sense one of the men come behind her until he grabbed her arm.

She reacted the same way and quickly turned to punch once more but stopped when she saw a small white critter crawl up from behind the man's neck and unto his face.

Disgusted by the white critter, she jumped backwards just before it exploded on the man's face. Bits and pieces of what's left of the ninja flew out and smoke from the explosion started to clear.

Sakura was once again surprised. She turned to look at the Akatsuki members, seeing if they caused the explosion.

She saw the blonde with a hand sign in front of him. He smirked, "One down, four to go."

It was one surprise after another. Sakura started to believe what the blonde had said about helping her. But another side of her told her that they must've wanted something in return.

The blonde and his jumpy partner walked up to stand in front of Sakura. "W-what are you doing?" She asked them. The blonde sighed, facing Sakura. "I said we are helping you, un!"

"Wah! Deidara-sempai doesn't like to repeat himself! Don't make him mad, boy!" The orange masked-man cried.

Boy? They think I'm a boy? Oh yeah, I forgot my clothing is different now.

Sakura checked her black T-shirt and pants. Plus her hair was up.

But nevermind that, she'd tell them she's actually a girl later. Right now she didn't want them to fight her fight.

"Ok! Deidara-sempai will show you his art!" The masked man yelled, jumping up and down.

Sakura glanced at the blonde.

So his name is Deidara?

"Oi, Tobi. You need to shut up." Deidara spouted at him.

So the masked man's name is Tobi. Never saw him in the Bingo Book. He must be new

"W-wait a minute. This is my fight." Sakura said.

Deidara looked at her up and down.

She stood there covered in dirt and sweat. There were some scratches on her and he glanced at the bleeding wound on her stomach.

"You almost passed out earlier and you still think you could win?"

Sakura nodded.

"Your an idiot." He said, bluntly and faced the remaining 4 men, leaving Sakura insulted and having an urge to punch him.

The remaining four seemed to know the Akatsuki based on their clothing and stirred a bit.

Sakura expected them to become afraid of the sight of Akatsuki.

The men still stood firm which pissed her off. She had enough of those guys now. "Why are you so intent in capturing me! What do I have that you want!" She yelled at them, from behind the two Akatsuki.

Her questions didn't sound like questions.

She demanded a straight answer and a reasonable one.

One of them sneered and pointed at her, "You don't realize that according to the Leaf Village you are a missing nin? The Leaf is offering a 26,500 ryo reward for anyone who brings you back."

Then he pointed at himself with his thumb, "We are going to be the ones to do that but instead we will take you as hostage and ask for even more money! Genius plan, right?"

But his gross evil smile revealed his true purpose. Sakura knew that they weren't going give her away alive to the Leaf. She didn't want the Leaf to pay a huge amount of money for a raped, dead body.

But now this explains why they were so intent on capturing her.


	3. Bang

Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews! :3 I'm happy!

* * *

**Bang**

"Tch, you can't fool me!" Sakura walked up from behind Deidara and Tobi, her scraped fists clenched white. "I know your true intentions!" She yelled again, voice filled with dominant hatred.

A different ninja spoke this time, "So what if you do?," he said mockingly. "We'll kill you and say that we found your dead body!"

He started to laugh maniacally, "The Leaf are dumb enough to believe that story!"

This statement made Sakura ultra pissed now. She couldn't believe how he insulted the Leaf! How dare they!

Sakura unconsciously charged for the bastard, her blood boiling in her veins. "HOW DARE YOU INSULT THE LEAF VILLAGE!" She shouted in anger as she held out her fist, aiming to punch the bastard's head.

The bastard must've wanted this to happen, and brought a kunai out from his sleeve and charged as well. "Now!" He yelled.

The rest appeared from behind Sakura, all holding kunai knifes, and each threw several at her.

Caught recklessly into battle, she turned to dodge everyone of the weapons, she forgot about the one man in front of her. The man finally caught Sakura in his grip.

Her back on his chest, hands gripped tight behind her back, and a kunai up to her neck. Sakura was foolish enough to act recklessly and get caught.

She squirmed and struggled to break away, "URG! LET ME GO! YOU BASTARD! YOU WILL DIE!" She growled, her anger was too much to control. She had lost her calm.

The bastard was amused by the reactions that was coming out of her. All this time, Sakura had been calm and quiet, but now it was different. He lowered his head to smirk at his captive's ear.

"Heh, easy now."

Now this was too much. She couldn't take it anymore. She didn't like being bounded by someone else nor the person who insulted her own village.

Sakura relentlessly head-butted the bastard, causing him to slightly cut her skin on her neck but she didn't care. All she wanted was to kill them. Get them over with.

After the head-butt, Sakura wasted no time to transfer her chakra to her fist to punch the bastard in the stomach. Then, more consecutive punches after that.

Releasing all her anger out, Sakura didn't realize that her chakra was depleting quickly. She roared with every punch, sending the bastard into the air.

Then with a finishing punch, Sakura smashed the bastard unto the ground with her chakra coated fist. "FUCK YOU!" The deepest crater formed under her and the dead bastard was coated with his blood and white bones protruded from his skin.

Dust and dirt flew out, creating a smoke-like screen which quickly cleared. In the middle of the crater, Sakura staggered to get up but when she did she gave a death glare at the remaining three ninjas.

A low growl left her throat, "Your next."

She slowly walked toward them until a hand landed on her shoulder like before, stopping her in her prowl. "What do you want?" She hissed, still glaring at the men who now took the chance to surround Deidara and Sakura.

Deidara sweat dropped and raised a yellow eyebrow.

_Damn this little boy is scary, un._

"Didn't I say we'd help you, un?" He reminded her, and walked behind Sakura to cover her back while she covered his.

"Why would you want to help me?" She narrowed her green eyes in distrust, "You must want something from me." She stated.

Deidara nodded, "Actually we do have something planned, but we'll talk about that later, un. Right now we have stuff to do, un." Deidara motioned his head toward the ones surrounding them.

Nodding, Sakura got ready for another round. But this time with back up.

And so the brawl began. Deidara and Sakura vs the remaining 3 ninjas.

Back to back, Deidara and Sakura punched and kicked. Covering each others backs made them almost unstoppable.

Almost...

Deidara normally doesn't use taijutsu but right now it was an exception. He knew that the chocolate-haired boy wasn't familiar with his ninjutsu and he didn't want any accidents to happen.

He noticed that the boy was highly trained in taijutsu although the boy used his chakra for his punches. But Deidara also wondered who this boy, that he's fighting with, name was?

_This boy was a truly formidable opponent, un. Interesting chakra control._

After finishing off one of his opponents, Deidara hadn't looked back when he asked one quick question. "Hey boy," he said, "What is your name, un?"

What Deidara didn't realize that the said "boy" was occupied with two people, not one.

After hearing Deidara call her practically a male, Sakura looked back to speak. She didn't bother to tell him that she was actually a girl, but instead started to say her name.

"My name's Saku-"

Interrupted by a punch in the face, she flew a few feet from the force of the hit. Her body flew into a tree, destroying it before she skid across the ground a few meters before stopping.

Then, her body laid there sideways, motionless.

It was lights out for her.

Deidara, on the other hand, saw the impact. "Hey! Are you alright, un?" He yelled. Looking back, Deidara knew that the boy was unconscious.

Tobi swooped down from who knows where to pick up the unconscious girl. Gently lifting her up, he walked to another tree and laid her against the trunk. "DON'T WORRY, SENPAI! I GOT HIM!" Tobi yelled, flinging his arm.

With a pain-throb on his head, Deidara yelled back at his partner, "Quit yelling!"

"Tch," Deidara now faced two sound ninjas. "So much for helping." Now with nothing to hold him back, Deidara spoke again, "I'll finish the rest myself."

He flipped open the bottom of his cloak to reveal his khaki bag of clay. After unzipping the bag, his hands mouths gladly helped themselves to the fresh, white clay.

After a few seconds of chewing, Deidara squeezed his hand, and opened it to display his "art". Then, he threw the clay spiders into the air. Once thrown into the air, they almost instantly attached themselves unto the two ninjas.

The now frantic ninjas tried to get the explosives off of their faces, but they couldn't see anything. They were already doomed once Akatsuki came into picture anyway.

Holding up his hand sign to his face with a smirk, Deidara jumped back and shouted, "KATSU!"

* * *

"Senpai! Senpai! Senpai! Yay! Senpai! You got rid of them, Senpai!"

"Oi! Shut up, Tobi! KATSU!"

**BOOMMM!**

"AHHHHH! SENPAI! THAT HURTS! OH NOOOO! SEMPAI! THERE"S FIRE ON MEEEE!"

"Shut up, un!"

Her eyes twitching open, Sakura slowly sat up. Awaking from her uncomfortable sleep, she held her hand to cover half of her face.

Without moving her head, her jade pupils moved up to give a piercing death glare to the unbelievably rowdy Akatsuki members.

"Who the hell woke me up?" She yelled, darkly.

Tobi and Deidara both were startled by the look in her eyes, and instantly stopped their little fight.

Deidara put his hands down from his sign, "you're awake, un."

"Yeah, because of you!"

"ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" Tobi ran up to Sakura to offer his hand.

Sakura stared blankly at it for a few seconds, but she decided to stand up herself.

Deidara saw how Tobi was intentionally ignored by Sakura, and smirked.

"Oi! Tobi, you should tell him about our plan, un." Deidara nodded at him, while walking up to Sakura.

"Oh yeah! We are..uhhhh...errrrr," Tobi scratched his head and looked at Deidara.

"What, un?" Deidara asked.

"Ahahaha... I forgo-OWWW!" Deidara hit Tobi on the head.

Sakura couldn't believe that this orange-masked dumbass was one of the Akatsuki. She knew Deidara from before when she fought Sasori but it seems that the dumb blonde didn't recognize her.

_Heh, dumb blond. I found that very funny._

Deidara sighed, thinking why he asked Tobi to do all the explaining. Heck! He wondered why this idiot replaced his former partner and rival in art.

It was true. Deidara favored Sasori way better than Tobi. But nooooo Sasori has to work by hims-

"Hey! You guys haven't told me "your plan" yet!" Sakura motioned her fingers to make quotes.

She watched Deidara walk to a nearby rock that probably came from the massive impact Sakura had placed on that mountain since it was huge.

She waited as he sat on it. His legs crossed with his arms and hands draped over his legs. He looked like he was tired.

Well, the sun did just start to rise. The fight took all night or maybe Sakura slept too long.

Sakura stared at the rising sun that was partly red so it didn't hurt her eyes. She was amazed by the flaming red color.

"We plan to bring to you leader, un."

Blinking twice, Sakura looked at Deidara in surprise. Those words went straight through her head.

She thought she heard wrong. "Huh? What did you say just now?" She asked, thinking that hopefully the blond man was kidding.

_There was no way an Akatsuki member could say such a thing to me_, Sakura thought.

Deidara grumbled,"Don't make me repeat myself, boy, un."

Tobi jumped in saying, "You might want to take the offer or we'll have to kill you!" He shouted as he swayed his arms dramatically in the air.

Sakura sweat-dropped thinking, _What's he so happy about? If I don't agree about going to leader then they'll have to kill me?_

Looking at Deidara with squinted eyes, "Your not kidding me, are you?"

He nodded, "Either you agree to come or to die, un."

"If I come does that guarantee that I'll still be alive after I see your "leader"?"

"I don't know, un."

"Then that's not fair! Either way I'll die!" Sakura shouted.

"You don't have to die right now if you agree, un!" He shouted right back.

Then Sakura's stubborn side kicked in. "I'm not going with you guys! I don't want to die! I can't die!" Backing away she yelled at them, then dashed into the forest.

Deidara smirked. Sakura was obviously under-estimating him.

Tobi jumped around giggling his head off, "Teehee! Senpai! He ran away!"

"I know, un." He got up, standing on the huge rock he was sitting on.

"Stubborn boy, un." He grumbled loudly as he took off after her.

Tobi sat down on the ground to wait for his partner to arrive with the boy.

"This will take a while," he giggled.

-MEANWHILE-

_I'm such an idiot!_ Sakura thought, _I should've ran away sooner_.

She kept running straight forward, her tied up chocolate-dyed hair mini ponytail flipped slightly as she ran.

Of course, she didn't know where she was going, but as long it kept her away from those guys it was fine if she got lost. She had been in that situation several times before anyway.

Several times she'd look back and see nobody coming after her.

_They aren't coming? Well I guess escaping was easier than I thought._

After confirming that nobody was following her, Sakura swiftly hid behind a tree trunk. She was breathing heavily and tried to control it so that she was quiet. She cleared any signs of her chakra signature.

Peeking from behind the tree trunk, Sakura saw no sign of anyone. She sighed a small sigh, questioning if she actually lost them. It was quiet for a minute now.

Sakura peeked once more then saw Deidara's face within inches from hers. "Whoa!" Surprised, she stumbled backwards with Deidara walking toward her. "Hmph. Scared, un?"

Her back bumped against a tree.

_Shit. It's over,_ She thought as Deidara approached her. His face smirking. He slowly pinned her against the tree. A hand over her head placed on the tree trunk. Deidara took this time to realize two things.

1.) This little boy was short compared to him. He was about Sasori's height.

2.) He would talk about it later.

"Have you changed your mind yet, un? Or you could be my next piece of art, un?." He asked her, smirking since Sakura had shown a sign of fear.

Backing off, Sakura bit her lip, "I don't want to be killed here." _Sasuke is my priority._ She surrendered, holding her hands up and looking down. Her head was full of thoughts of her betrayal. She was scared that this was not the right decision after all.

"Good, un. Now let's go and don't you dare run away again, un." He glared at her which sent shivers of fear down her spine. It was weird. When they were fighting together, she wasn't afraid of him. His dominant, massive chakra power finally had gotten to her. She wanted to pull up a face of indifference right now. Everything would be better that way.

He started to walk to head back where Tobi was but stopped when he didn't hear footsteps behind him.

Looking back, he made a hand gesture as if he were a butler, "It pisses me off to see somebody run away and having to catch them, un. Next time, I'll kill you myself although I don't want your blood on my hands, un."

He raised one of his hands up to show off his mouth hand, and smirked once again at Sakura's shocked face, "Although, they like the taste of blood, un." The mouth was rubbing his teeth with his tongue and grinned.

Sakura then glared at him, and muttered loudly, "Damn you." And reluctantly walked toward him.


	4. Misunderstood and Judged

**Misunderstood**

The familiar smell and sounds of the night was all around them. Crisp air with the sound of the owls' constant hooting and the crickets' annoying chirping in the distance which fortunately made the girl feel at ease. Only a little bit though.

Well, she IS walking with around her sworn enemies after all. Two members of the Akatsuki. Deidara and Tobi.

Suspicious of them, she followed behind her two "escorts" that she never wanted, but apparently had them at the moment. She took glances at her surroundings as she followed closely behind them.

Noting her surroundings, she knew they were walking toward a small canyon. The sounds of stepping on pieces of solid rock instead of soft grass made her aware of her location.

She was occupied until she stopped suddenly when something caught her eye. She looked to her left to see a small red light that appeared in the insane blackness of the night. She squinted her soft, emerald eyes and blinked twice to make sure she wasn't seeing things.

A small gasp of surprise left her mouth. When she looked closely at the red spot, it was actually an eye! Three small, blacks orbs formed in the red eye, connected by lines that circled around the black pupil.

It looked like the Sharingan. No... It was the Sharingan.

Still unsure of what she saw but the sight made her have high hopes of finding Sasuke sooner than she thought.

_Sasuke? _She questioned.

Then the eye seemed to close and became the black darkness. A chill swept over her skin. But no she wasn't scared. She was rather even more determined to find Sasuke.

Almost sure that it was him watching her, she fail to notice that her "escorts" were calling for her. "Saku!... Saku!"

Shaking her head and blinked toward the name, she finally recognized the annoyingly happy voice. She had forgotten her new name.

Saku.

The jumping, annoying orange-masked man aka Tobi waved his arms dramatically at her, telling her to hurry up.

Deidara just kept on walking, obviously pissed from Sakura slowing them down. The jerk. Leaving a girl behind.

But that's one thing they DON'T know.

_"Yay! Deidara-senpai! You caught him! Good job!" One arm swung in front of him giving a thumbs-up before running up to his senpai who didn't want his praise._

_The exhausted girl sat down against the trunk of a nearby tree to silently check her stomach wound. Luckily, it was actually healing but the wound was dirtied with dried blood._

_Damn. I'm so reckless._

_Raising a hand over her wound, she concentrated on her chakra, making a green aura surround her hand to close and clean what was left of the wound. Bits of dried up blood disappeared and new skin formed in its place._

_She still had a few scratches and cuts on her arms and legs but they weren't too severe of her to waste her chakra on. She deicided that it would be best to restore and save chakra for her meeting with the rest of Akatsuki._

_She stayed there watching Tobi annoy the hell out of Deidara and resting for a bit. She needed all the chakra she could get._

_Her hair was messed up in the ponytail she still had. She was tired of re-tying her hair at the moment. Seeing how it got longer by two inches made her want to cut it even shorter than she normally had. So she did._

_Quietly pulling out a kunai and slicing her hair shorter. Now she officially had a boy haircut. Short in the back with long brown bangs. At this point she looked 100% boy, but her looks were the least of her problems right now._

_"Oi, Tobi. Let's go, un." Already leading the way, feeling sick and tired of his partner as usual._

_"Hai! Senpai!" Saluting like a rookie soldier._

_Sakura threw away the cut-off strands of her hair behind her and placed the kunai back in her pouch._

_Tobi skipped toward Sakura and offered an another helping hand to her, "Little boy! We are leaving now!" He said._

_Little boy? Why do they keep calling me a boy? I'm a girl._

_She was about to correct the orange-masked man until he spoke. The words he said made her reconsider on the words she was about to say._

_"Ne? Your not a girl right? Cause if you are, we'd have to kill you," Tobi giggled although he was oblivious about Sakura's real gender. Then a glint flashed on his eye and Sakura could feel that he was grinning under his mask like he knew the truth._

_She hesitated to speak to a few seconds then replied, "No," Trying to sound believable. "What makes you think that?" She laughed nervously at herself but stopped when she saw that he wasn't laughing._

_Tobi didn't speak but just stared at Sakura with narrowed eyes. She kept her face confident and calm to make sure the man believed her although she was frantic inside._

_A small silence passed until Tobi's hand which was still in front of Sakura twitched signaling her to take it. She noticed the sign and sighed, grabbing it and pulled herself up._

_He smiled happily and jumped for joy. Probably because she accepted his offer this time._

_"Oi. Hurry up, un!"_

_"Hai! Senpai!" Tobi started to walk toward him but stopped to ask Sakura a simple question._

_"Oh yeah! What's your name, little boy?"_

_"Saku." She replied simply, trying not to take the word "boy" as an insult._

Sakura wondered where the infamous Akatsuki base was when they reached a small waterfall in front of them. The rushing water wasn't loud at all. It was quiet.

When she glanced down the canyon, there were others just like this one. There was a small pool of water on the ground about 3 feet wide.

She was trying to figure out how where entrance is located so whenever she died escaping she could leave notes on about the Akatsuki entrance.

_Wierd. Do you go through the small waterfall? Maybe there's an entrance there. Or maybe you go dive into the small pool of water and there's_ _an entrance under water?_

_Or maybe you-_

Someone interrupted her thoughts when he spoke, "Sorry, un."

Turning around to object, she felt the side of someone's hand hit the back of her neck and her eyelids fell as well as her body.

_Damn, I guess I'll never know..._

Tobi rushed to grab her limp body before it hit the ground, "Deidara-senpai," He whimpered, frowning. "you're so mean." He pouted.

The blond placed one of his hand mouths into his pouch of clay. His mouth-hand already working with the white clay.

"I was following Leader-sama's orders, un."

"I know," Tobi replied, looking down at Sakura's unconscious face.

After molding the small piece of clay in his hand, Deidara tossed it into the air and made his hand sign. The clay poofed into white smoke, becoming some sort of a coffin looking case.

"Put him in here, un," He said, opening the case. "He won't drown underwater, un."

"Hai! Senpai!," Tobi obeyed and placed the unconscious Sakura in the coffin.

"Now you carry it, un."

"What!"

"Hurry up, un!"

Tobi finally obeyed and went to carry the load.

"It's heavy senpai!"

"Stop complaining, un."

"But it is! Senpai!"

Frustrated with the man, Deidara turned around and glared... hard, the orange-masked man flinched in fear.

"Do you want me to blow you up, un!"

"..."

Deidara heavily sighed before jumping in the small pool of water with Tobi right behind him. Inside the water, they swam several meters holding their breaths until they stopped in front of a huge underwater boulder.

Then Deidara nodded at Tobi signaling him to stand on the opposite sides of the boulder. As Tobi did so, they both made the same hand signs consecutively. When they finished the last one, the boulder slowly moved foward, revealing a passage way.

Deidara moved first to swim through the opening the boulder had once covered, then Tobi followed with the heavy clay coffin tied onto his back. After swimming another several meters, they both swam upwards, meeting up with fresh air that coursed through their lungs.

They both stepped out of the water and their feet touched with the dark grounds of the Akatsuki base. In the large under ground "family room", sat everyone except for Konan, Leader and Zetsu.

"Me and Senpai are home!" Tobi yelled.

Everyone looked up to the arriving pair of Akatsuki members and instantly noticed the clay coffin on Tobi's back which he set down slowly unto the soft ground.

Some eyes narrowed at the coffin suspiciously. Some didn't care about the subject and resumed their usual duties.

Others were curious about what was inside the mysterious white box since they knew that they weren't sent on a mission for a tailed host.

One of them was Kisame who walked up to Tobi and Deidara. "Welcome back," he said, grinning. Then raising his index finger, he pointed at the white coffin-looking thing.

"Mind tell me what's in that coffin-looking thing there, Deidara?"

"Our new-to-be-member!" Tobi chirped in, bouncing happily. Deidara looked indifferent, "Care to look, un?" He mumbled, placing his hand-mouths on the coffin. "Be my guest, Kisame."

Everyone looked up out of curiosity as Kisame began to rip a hole into the coffin, tossing the white, clay pieces as he did.

As light went through the openings of the holes Kisame made, Sakura, aka Saku to everyone else, was unconscious still.

She was still wearing the black baggy T-shirt and the gray pants to match that didn't make her look like a intimidating person. If everyone knew that she was a girl, she would be even less intimidating.

To the Akatsuki, she looked like a villager, but only Tobi and Deidara witnessed the "ninja" in this human being.

She had a blob of dried up blood stain on the mid-section of her shirt, but her slow, steady breathing was the only sign that told everyone that Deidara didn't kill the captive.

Kisame's eyes showed signs of disappointment in them, "He doesn't look strong, Deidara. A weak newbie?"

Then, Itachi stood up from where he sat and walked toward his partner to see the captive. The Uchiha's eyes narrowed, "He looks weak. If he is of no use, kill him." And he walked away to his room.

Hidan spoke from where he sat on the couch, "Mind if I use the fucking bastard as a sacrifice to Jashin? Haven't done one in a while." Ha gave a sharp laugh.

"No! We need to take him to Leader first!" Tobi yelled at Hidan for thinking such a thing. Hidan cussed him out as usual, and tried to cut him with his scythe but failed to do so.

Tobi quickly grabbed Saku's unconscious self out of the coffin, and ran out the door and down the corridor before anything else was said.

The sound of fast steps down the hallway made Deidara want to go to his room and sleep. Kisame and Hidan left to their rooms since Tobi ran away with their subject of discrimination.

* * *

"You've brought me something useful, perhaps?" An anonymous voice broke through the dark, pitch black room as Tobi opened the door to the room and closed it.

He stepped inside and laid Sakura's body across a table that was in the center of the room. It seemed that Tobi was used to the dark and could actually see the one with the deep voice who sat on a chair with Konan next to him.

"Leader, I've brought you something that could please you with its help," Tobi said.

Leader stood up and overlooked the captive for a minute before sitting back down. "Tell me her name."

"Haruno Sakura." A deep, strange voice that held great mystery filled the room slipped through Tobi's lips.

* * *

**AHAHHAHAHAHH! yay! did it? u like? no like? well ur welcome! next is what happens when Sakura wakes up? found out! later!**

**p.s. if u go to my profile and see that i have a new link up there for Akatsuki Base Layout! check it out! and the thing is the akatsuki are so cheap that they have to go through other people's rooms to go to the living room, kitchen and outside! aint that great?**

**so thats it. Cha!**


	5. Deeper

**Hey! its been awhile haha. really sorry. but uh hopefully this chapter will make up for it. i made it longg.**

**Is it confusing when you read it? Please let me know. Thanks! ENJOY! Love Charia :3**

* * *

**Deeper**

Light emerald eyes popped open in realization that she had been sleeping. Sakura woke up abruptly in a room with an unfamiliar feeling to it. She felt like she was trespassing someone else's territory. Someone's personal space.

She was the foreign object. And she obviously did not belong here.

No one but Akatsuki should belong here. And suffer in this dreadful place.

She was the only one in this room. _A bedroom,_ she simply stated. Their was no doubt in her mind that she was in the infamous Akatsuki base. Funny how many have wanted to find this place, and here Sakura never wanted to be in this position. Forced to be a part of this dreaded, loathed organization. She hated it. Her loyalties laid elsewhere. And they were going to stay there. She sometimes wondered where Sasuke's loyalties lied. Surely not with Orochimaru, she hoped. Did he and Team 7 not share a strong enough bond? Sakura thought they had one until that day Sasuke left.

_I'll make him see that he can't break away from us that easily. I'll beat his sorry ass if I have to. Then I'll heal him enough to where he can stand, and I'll beat him again! _

Her fist clenched. Her teeth grinded together. _  
_

She snapped out of her thoughts to observe the room. The lights weren't on or maybe there was none. There were no direct sign of windows or perhaps it was too dark to tell. She blinked several times so that she could maybe see outlines of objects, but oddly she couldn't see well enough.

_Damn! How can it be **this** dark? The walls **must **be painted or something. _

She sat up carefully in bed and hastily felt her clothing first. Her fingers felt the rough cotton fabric, and she gave a short breath of sweet relief. Her black shirt and gray pants were still intact. Just a few tears here and there from combat.

Somehow the thought of rape forced its way into her intelligent mind. Then, it was possible that the Akatsuki had found out her new secret. She was a girl which meant she was going to die soon.

_I've got to get out of here. ASAP._

She shifted the little weight she had to get off the bed. With no squeaks. No noise.

Then, she hid her own chakra signature successfully as usual. Her flawless chakra control proved to be useful for hiding in situations like these.

Sakura closed her eyes, listened and scanned for incoming chakra signatures.

_Clear. Ok, now where's the goddamn door._

With one hand extended, she walked toward a expected wall. Her finger tips touched lightly on what seemed to be the top of a wooden dresser. She felt the dresser was layered with dust. As she searched for any objects on this dresser, a sudden bit of pain shot through her hand. She brought a finger to her lips and sucked the excess blood off her finger that had grazed over the sharp blade of a kunai. This slight pain was meaningless compared to what she was used to, and easily brushed it aside like she always had been.

She quietly grabbed the handle of the lonely weapon and held it in her hand. She couldn't understand why they left a weapon in the same room as her, surely the Akatsuki were smart enough to not leave something like this. Unless...

The grip on the kunai grew tighter.

_They are underestimating me._

That was her personal pet peeve. When she was underestimated.

_I'm not weak. _

Those words ran through her head like they had many times before.

She gritted her teeth in anger, chocolate eyebrows scrunched together. She ran her hands and followed the wall until she reached a door.

In the darkness, she felt the doorknob. Her fingers touched the cold metal and grasped around it. With her back against the door and a kunai raised with one hand, she turned the knob slowly. Light beamed through the crack, blinding Sakura for a second before she opened the door wider. She was now looking at a small hallway with black walls made of stone. She walked over to the other door.

_Interesting. Behind this door was...another door. _She half joked, half observed. An image of Kakashi-sensei flashed through her mind.

_"You want to know what's behind this mask? Well, behind this mask is...another mask!"_

She smiled sadly as she scanned the next room for any chakra signatures, then she opened the door.

This black room was vacant. Sakura searched the room with her eyes. There were three things she had noticed in this particular room. One: the walls were indeed black. Two: there were two other doors. Three: it smelled like...fresh clay?

She stepped inside, kunai raised to defend herself at a moment's notice.

The lights were on this time, a single bulb hanged from the ceiling. It was wierd. This room was extremely different than the one she was in.

_It feels...homely in a way._

There was just a simple twin sized bed with some furniture to match. Medium sized brown bags stacked on a table and saw what smelled like clay. There were white clay sculptures of birds and spiders all laid out neatly on the table as well. Curious, she walked over to examine the artwork closer. Embracing the artistic composition, she thought they were beautifully done. Then, she frowned in thought.

_A sculptor? Someone in Akatsuki makes sculptures? _

She wasn't aware that the members of Akatsuki had any particular hobbies. She liked sculpting as well, but unfortunately she wasn't very good at it. Making quite a mess was all she did.

_I wonder who made these._

She glanced at the brown bags of clay and it clicked.

A doorknob clicked.

Alarmed, her head whipped around with the kunai she obtained in her firm grasp. From where she stood frozen and tense, she had only hoped that this person wouldn't kill her right on the spot. She watched as the door opened and gulped loudly when she met with familiar eyes traced with eye liner and long, straight blond hair. She blinked once, then twice.

_Deidara._

She recognized him. The man who she assumed had knocked her out since she figured that the crazy orange masked man was too nice to do it. But she want revenge for that. Now right now at least.

Not when he was standing naked right in front of him.

...

...

(A/N: JUST KIDDING! xD)

Well, practically.

There was a clad white towel hung around his thin hips, covering his own precious "art".

Normally other women would fawn over the sight of the blond man, but bhe didn't care about what he was wearing at the moment. She needed to get out of there. Sakura stared right at the man's grey eyes that widened at her unexpected appearance in his room. He was oddly surprised.

Her feet sprinted across the room and made it to the other door in what Sakura assumed was Deidara's room, she intentionally and effortlessly yanked the doorknob off the door and kicked it open in two swift movements.

But before she could dart through the open door, there was a sudden blur of black and blue and soon Sakura found her neck an inch away from the tip of a bandaged sword. She analyzed the owner of the weapon.

_Blue hair and skin with shark-like teeth and gills. _

Emerald green eyes glared at the fish-man she was examining. Placing a face with a name.

_Hoshikagi Kisame._

She had seen this man before in a bingo book she found in Tsunade's office when she first started to become Tsunade's apprentice. On the other page, his partner Uchiha Itachi was listed as well.

Sakura fell limp when the man firmly pressed his sword against her throat. The medium amount of chakra that she regained overnight was shaved away to where she had barely a sliver left.

"You restore chakra pretty fast," Kisame began as his arm hooked over his shoulder, placing his bandaged sword against his back. He was wearing the usual Akatsuki attire and Sakura was inwardly glad that she only saw Deidara in a towel. If it was anyone else, she would most likely be killed or died of disgust. (A/N: If that's even possible? :/)

Clenching her fists and gritting her teeth hard, she struggled to get up from the floor. She wasn't going to show that she was weak. Kisame eyes widened a bit, seeing how he simply extracted nearly all of this boy's chakra yet he made efforts to move.

"Impressive," he complemented, "Many would have a hard time feeling their arms and legs after what I just did to you."

Sakura heard some shuffling and looked up. Deidara walked over to her, fully dressed in the Akatsuki attire minus the cloak and grabbed her arm to place it over his shoulders, "He wasn't gonna to go far, Kisame."

"Well, I'll have you know that I don't like uninvited guests, Deidara," the man replied before picking up the kicked down door and placing it back where it was.

* * *

Deidara helped Sakura walk to the "family room" of the underground hideout. Although Sakura ended up being stubborn and had silently refused any help from him, he guided her nonetheless.

In the "family room", the walls and floor were made of black rock. Some couches were placed around the large room and a few light bulbs hung from the ceiling.

Sakura came in stumbling almost, cruising against the wall like a baby just learning how to walk. She didn't even bother to see or notice the other people in the same room. Deidara followed behind her, greeting everyone inside the room with a nod.

Itachi, from where he sat on one of the couches, glanced over to the two entering the room and continued to sharpen his katana.

Kazuku glanced over as well before continuing to mark off several peoples' names off a list.

"Ugh," she groaned as she sat down on the hard rock floor, her back leaned against the wall. She looked sideways and waved her hand at Deidara, asking for him to lend his ear.

Deidara stared at her for a moment and he too bent one knee to hear Sakura whisper, "Could you lend me some chakra? Like you did before," she asked, quietly.

_Oh yeah, I suppose it wouldn't hurt, un._

He lifted his mouth-hand to her small wrist and licked it. Sakura felt her spine tingle from the cold saliva and incoming flow of fresh chakra. She felt her muscles relax from the sensation and her head cleared up a lot better than before. She closed her eyes and breathed outward, "Thanks."

* * *

"Thanks."

Deidara looked at Sakura in amazement as he took his hand away. He took this time to actually study this person's features.

_He's so short...like Danna. So small._

He glanced at her face.

A thought ran through his head and left instantly as it came... It was something along the lines of pretty.

Deidara blinked and shook his head. The movement made Sakura's eyes open from which the blond turned away and stood.

_I'm being an idiot._

* * *

Sakura opened her eyes to see Deidara walking away and stood as well. She smiled at her new strength, clenching and unclenching her hands for a bit.

A sudden urge to spar coursed through her body and she turned to the right to see Deidara plopped in a couch, looking asleep.

_I guess I'll ask someone else. _

She turned away from Deidara to see who else was in the room, searching for a sparring partner.

One man looked scary mysterious. He felt her eyes on him and turned his head to meet her eyes. Green meeting green.

Sakura inwardly shrunk back thinking, _DAMN... HE LOOKS CREEPY._

She broke eye contact and turned to see the back another man. His long black ponytail looked...appealing to Sakura. He was sharpening a katana from the looks of it.

_At least he looks human._

And so she walked over to him.

* * *

Itachi heard footsteps heading his direction, he stopped what he was doing.

"Will you spar with me?"

The Uchiha turned his head and met green eyes that widened in recognition before reverting back to normal size. Itachi noticed this, but decided to ask questions later. Right now he was curious as to whether this boy was powerful as Tobi had proclaimed.

And so he stood.

* * *

**AND DONE! Thank you for reading! Next chapter preview: :3**

_Hesitant fingers grasped the cold metal of a doorknob. She exhaled deeply as a bead of sweat lid down her temple, her eyebrows furrowed together. _

_She had been summoned earlier by Leader. The message given to her from Tobi. The man had busted into her room, waking her in the process._

_"Leader-sama asks for you to come to his room," he said happily and left in a second after that. _

_Sakura got out of bed and made her way to his room. She didn't want to keep the Akatsuki leader waiting if she wanted some things to go her way. _

_She walked through Itachi's room, she was glad he wasn't there, and the kitchen and through some halls to be here. In front of Pein's room._

_Her mind couldn't imagine what his room might look like, not that she cared. Opening the door, she peered into the darkness of the room like she opened a door to a black hole. _

_One step in and you'll never come back._

_No light. Her eyes couldn't see anything still, but she wasn't scared. _

_You need me for something to let me live this long. You need me._

_With that she walked inside. The door closing behind her._


End file.
